Capt. Nathaniel FITCH (1679 – 1759) was Alex’s 8th great grandfather, one of 512 in this generation of the Miner line.

Capt. Nathaniel Fitch was born in Oct 1679 in Norwich CT. His parents were Rev James FITCH and Priscilla MASON. He married Anne ABELL on 10 Dec 1701. After Anne died, he married Mindwell Higley Tisdale on 17 Sep 1729 in Lebanon, CT. Nathaniel died 4 May 1759 in Lebanon, CT.

Nathaniel Fitch – Headstone the old burying ground at Lebanon, Conn- ” Here lies the body of Capt. Nathaniel Fitch who, in his life, was useful to the world, and rendered himself beloved and esteemed by Kindness, humanity, Benevolence and other Virtues, and in a comfortable hope of divine Acceptance through Christ departed May 14, 1759 in the 80th year of his age.”

Anne Abell was born 2 Apr 1681 in Norwich CT. Her parents were Joshua ABELL and Mehitable SMITH. Anne died 3 Jul 1728 in Lebanon CT.

Mindwell Higley was born in Lebanon, CT. Her parents were Capt John Higlye and Hannah Drake. She was widow of Jonathan Hutchinson and James Tisdale. Mindwell died 1 Sep 1769 in Lebanon, New London, CT.

Nathaniel was the 2nd of the three brothers who settled in Lebanon, New London, CT. He owned a grist mill and a fulling mill.

In 1713 he was appointed Ensign in the 2nd Co., Lebanon militia and was made Capt. of the Company in 1713. He transferred to the South Company in 1726. He was also a Deputy from Lebanon to the General Court in 1720.

Nathaniel outlived six of his children and left the bulk of his estate including the gristmill to Midwell. He provided for most of his children with gifts of land and money, but left the fulling mill to his daughter Mehitabel and various pieces of land to sons Ezekiel and Isaac as well as to some of his grandchildren. He was buried near his father in the old Lebanon cemetery. On either side of his gravestone are those of his wives Ann and Mindwell.

He was a soldier in the French and Indian Wars; a Captain in military service. Sergeant, possible promoted to Col. during the French and Indian War. Appears to have fought around 1756 – 1758.

Nathaniel Fitch – Soldier

Children

1. Ann Fitch

Ann’s husband John Partridge was born 27 Dec 1697 in Duxbury, Plymouth, Mass. His parents were John Partridge Sr. and Hannah Seabury. John died 9 Sep 1780 in Lebanon, New London, CT.

Joseph graduated from Yale in 1761. Their second son was the father of Governor Clark Bissell (Yale 1806).

In October, 1755, Joseph Bissell was appointed by the General Assembly as one of the County Surveyors for Windham County.

He and his wife are traced in the land-records of Lebanon as residing there down to March, 1800. His later history is not known, but he is marked as deceased in the Triennial Catalogue of graduates issued in 1814.

His eldest son, John Partridge Bissell, moved to Ohio, after his marriage in 1790, and it is probable that his parents went thither also.

Mary’s brother Jonathan Trumbull, Sr. (12 Oct 1710 – 17 Aug 1785) was one of the few Americans who served as governor in both a pre-Revolutionary colony and a post-Revolutionary state. During the American Revolution he was one of a very few colonial governors who supported the American side.

Trumbull was a friend and advisor of General Washington throughout the revolutionary period, dedicating the resources of Connecticut to the fight for independence. Washington declared him “the first of the patriots.” When Washington was desperate for men or food during the war, he could turn to “Brother Jonathan.”

Jonathan (costume version) standing under a blow-up version of a husky.

There was a strong connection between Connecticut and the Western Reserve. Our ancestor Philo Sidney MINER (1811 – 1890) immigrated to Kinsman, Trumbull County Ohio from Hebron Connecticut between his 1834 marriage to Sophia and 1838 when Philo Sidney Jr. was born. Several of his siblings including Calvert, Selden, Edward Everett and Melissa also moved from Connecticut. When his father died in 1842, he went back to Connecticut and retrieved his mother and two youngest sisters to come live in Ohio. Philo’s wife Sophia POLLEY was Nathaniel Fitch’s 2nd Great Granddaughter.

Ephraim Fitch, one of the early settlers of Oxford, NY. He raised a family of four children, one girl and three boys. He was the first elected supervisor of the town; was well educated, having passed through college. The first visit that he made to Oxford was on horseback, accompanied by Daniel Tremain, through the woods, guided only by marked trees and Indian paths. The two travelers bought land and afterwards settled upon it; the former near Fitch hill, north of the village, which subsequently was named after him, and the latter on the east side of the river, near Brisbin. They improved large farms, raised families, and lived to be very old men. Mr. Fitch died in Cattaraugus county, where he moved in 1814. He was said to have been 96 years of age at the time of his death. His sons, John and Jonatham, held town offices.

v. Capt. Abraham Fitch b: 22 Jan 1738 in Lebanon, CT.; d. 1 Apr 1821 in Lebanon, CT.; m. Elizabeth Bissell b: 1 May 1737
Captain of ad Connecticut Regiment light horse cavalry in the Revolutionary War, served in French and Indian war, was never ill a day in his life, walked out of doors an hour before death (see Stiles His. Ancient Windsor)
One of Abraham’s sons, Azel of Lebanon Ct. and Ashtabula Ohio. b. in Lebanon Apr. 29, 1771, d. in Ashtabula Sep. 10, 1842, was enterprising man of affairs, manufacturer. of woolens, the peace of 1815 flooded American markets with cheap foreign goods which injured his business, followed his son to Ohio and invested in land 1829 (m. 1802 Fanna Hinckley, dau. of Charles Hinckley of Lebanon, who m. Elizabeth Throop, dau. of Rev. Benjamin Throop, grad. Yale 1735, who m. Sybil Dyer, dau. of Col. Thomas Dyer of Windham);

4. Nehemiah Fitch

Nehemiah’s first wife Elizabeth Vetch was born 5 Aug 1693 in Boston, Suffolk, Mass. Her parents were Andrew Vetch and Elizabeth [__?__] Elizabeth died before 1738 in Lebanon, New London, CT.

Nehemiah’s second wife Ann Metcalf was born 18 Mar 1716 in Lebanon, CT. Her parents were Ebenezer Metcalf and Hannah Abell. Ann died 1779 in Lebenon, CT.

Caleb’s wife Ruth Woodworth was born 27 Apr 1730 in Lebanon, New London, CT. Her parents were Joshua Woodworth and Ruth Brown.. After Caleb died in 1750, in 175 she married Jonathan House (b: 3 Mar 1720/21) In 1800 Ruth House was living in Coventry, CT and may have died there in 1807. Record says Widow House age 80.

It looks like there were two Ruth Woodworths born in 1730 Connecticut, one who was born in Hartford to Benjamin Woodworth, Hannah Damon, the other born in New London to Joshua Woodworth and Ruth Brown.

It looks like it was the Hartford Ruth who married Joseph Owen (b. 29 Jan 1683/84 in Simsbury, Hartford, CT – d. 29 Sep 1758 in Simsbury, Hartford, CT)

Some sources say that Ruth died 19 Mar 1751 in Lebanon, New London, CT, but most state it was in Litchfield, Connecticut which is much closer to Hartford and Simsbury than it is to Lebanon, so it’s logical to assume this was the other Ruth.

Ezekiel’s wife Susannah Highely was born 6 May 1730 in Simsbury, CT. Her parents were Josiah Higley and Dinah Gillette. Susannah died 1816 in Cooperstown, Otsego, New York.

In a 1756 French and Indian War muster roll, an Ezekiel Fitch was 2nd Lt. 2nd Company, Capt. John Payson in the 1st Connecticut Regiment, Major-General Phineas Lyman. He was later 1st Lt. in Capt Edmund Welles’ 11th Company.

Isaac’s first wife Susannah Blackman was born 12 Aug 1733. Her parents were Elisha Blackman b: ABT 1707 and Susannah Higley b: ABT 1712. The year in the Bible record is clearly 1752, which implies Susannah was pregnant at the time of marriage and helps explain why “Isaac and wife Susannah Fitch confessed sin of fornication & owned ye covenenant,” 3 Jun 1753. Warren and Nutmegger give the year, 1753 which, being well after the birth of their first child, seems unlikely.

Isaac Fitch was the architect recommended by Gov. Jonathan Trumbull as “The best Architect within the compass of my acquaintance.”

Isaac Fitch was one of Connecticut’s most skilled and accomplished colonial builders and carpenters. He was born in Lebanon, a cousin of Jonathan Trumbull Senior (1710-85), the Governor of Connecticut and supplier to Washington’s Continental Army. Isaac died relatively young, and had he lived longer Fitch would probably have been known as one of Connecticut’s greatest eighteenth-century architects.

According to the Duke de Lauzun, who was encamped in the town with his French cavalry forces in the winter of 1780/81, Lebanon then resembled Siberia. He caustically described it as “a few huts scattered among vast forest.” But during that very winter, as the French aristocrat and his troops were mingling with Lebanon’s locals, master builder Isaac Fitch was renovating a house across from the Lebanon Green, into a fine Georgian-style house, fit for a gentleman. The house belonged to Jonathan Trumbull Junior (1740-1807), the future Governor of Connecticut.

Jonathan Trumble Jr 2nd Speaker of the US House of Representatives

The house has been opened to the public since 1978, and offers a fine opportunity to see Fitch’s craftsmanship. By the time Fitch began working on Trumbull Junior’s house, he had built an enviable reputation across eastern Connecticut for the quality of his workmanship.

Governor Trumbull House

Isaac Fitch was a skilled cabinetmaker and joiner who supplemented his income making wheels, axles, coffins, and sleighs. He also made picture frames for Jonathan Trumbull Junior’s brother, the famed artist John Trumbull (1756-1843).

Reverse of U.S. two-dollar bill John Trumbull’s Declaration of Independence

Evidence suggests that Fitch may also have built Jonathan Trumbull Senior’s “shop” or workshop in 1758, the structure now known as the Lebanon War Office.

During the Revolutionary War, Governor Jonathan Trumbull convened the Council of Safety to deal with the defense of the colony of Connecticut and to supply provisions to the Continental Army. Many of the over 1,100 meetings were held in this building. Among major figures who participated in the work done here were General Knox, Putnam, the Count de Rochambeau, George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette. Administered by the Connecticut Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.

The Lebanon War Office was built by Isaac Fitch

The War Office is owned by the Sons of the American Revolution and is open Saturday and Sunday 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM from Memorial Day until Labor Day.

Little is known about Fitch’s early training, or early life, but his 1791 probate records reveal that Fitch owned a book named Architecture, written by the famed British architect, Sir James Gibbs (1682-1754). Gibbs had a great influence on early American architecture, particularly the design of church steeples. The book may have been obtained for Fitch by his cousin, Jonathan Trumbull Senior, an importer of English books. Records of Isaac Fitch’s building and carpentry transactions appear in Jonathan Trumbull Senior’s meticulous records, and reveal that Fitch probably built a “handsome porch” on the Second Lebanon Meeting House as early as 1758/59.

The Trumbull family had a shipyard in East Haddam in the colonial years, where ships were built and repaired for the lucrative transatlantic and Caribbean trade, and records show that Fitch worked on the building of a merchant ship at East Haddam called Neptune. Jonathan Trumbull Senior was deeply in debt in 1764/65 to English merchants, and he formed a partnership with Windham’s Eleazer Fitch to build a ship of 160 tons, the Neptune, to help pay off his debts. It unfortunately sank four days out to sea on its maiden voyage to London. Fitch also worked on a sloop called Seaflower.

Fitch also manufactured gunstocks from black walnut plank for Jonathan Junior and John’s brother, David Trumbull (1752-1822), who had a small arms manufactory in Lebanon during the Revolutionary War. David Trumbull was the supplier for Rochembeau’s French Army when they landed at Newport, Rhode Island in 1780, and he also supplied all the provisions, barracks and housing for officers for the Duke de Lauzun’s cavalry legion at Lebanon in 1780/81. From November 1780 until June 1781 David Trumbull turned over his magnificent Lebanon house, Redwood, to Lauzun to use as his headquarters.

Redwood was designed and built by Isaac Fitch in 1778/79, and was considered to be the most sophisticated piece of domestic architecture for its time in Connecticut. It stands on land, opposite the Lebanon town hall, purchased by his grandfather, Joseph Trumbull in 1713.

Redwood House

Isaac Fitch was commissioned by David Trumbull to build copies of English furniture for Redwood. Furniture in Boston was very expensive during the Revolutionary War, and David’s brother John Trumbull, studying art in Boston, suggested that David get Isaac Fitch, the house builder, to make copies. John Trumbull also hoped to obtain captured goods, bound for the West Indies market from two English merchant ships for his brother’s house. David Trumbull sent Fitch to Boston to buy the articles to furnish Redwood. They consisted of “elegant” curtains, wallpaper, paints, china and glass.

Redwood House Fireplace

Fitch’s building work was not limited to Lebanon. Examples can be found in New London and Colchester. Probably his most famous piece of work is New London’s town hall, built in 1784/85. This outstanding building still stands, and it has described by the architectural historian William Warren as “an ambitious and expensive undertaking for a small region in the New Republic.”

New London Town Hall was built by Isaac Fitch

Prior to his New London work, Isaac Fitch was employed to build the pulpit and plan the joinery, trim and interior cabinetwork of Colchester’s third meetinghouse in 1771. The church was located next to the Bacon Academy, and was later torn down and replaced by the current church. Fitch also built Colchester’s Deming House in 1768. This fine mansion was demolished in 1958, but it possessed outstanding examples of Fitch’s craftsmanship. The house’s most elaborate work, located in the northeastern parlor was purchased by the American Museum in Bath, England.

Deming Parlor

Children of Isaac and Susannah:

i. Capt. Jabez Fitch , Sr. b: 18 NOV 1752 in Lebanon, CT
After serving with distinction in the Revolutionary War, Jabez married Molly Bosworth, at Lebanon, Conn., and after the close of the war, with a number of other young people from Lebanon came in 1793, to Columbia county, New York, where his son, Dr. Jabez Fitch, Junior, was born, November 6th, 1794. Subsequently in 1810, he removed to the town of Mooers, in Clinton county, New York. He was an architect and builder, whose skill is shown by different churches and public buildings still standing in Columbia and Clinton counties. His son, Dr. Jabez Fitch, was a physician in large practice at Mooers and Plattsburg, New York, served in the war of 1812 on the medical staff, and held, besides his position as surgeon to which he was appointed by DeWitt Clinton, many public offices.

Rosie Byard says:
September 21, 2012 at 7:33 pm (Edit)
Couldn’t find another way to contact you. This relates to Ruth WOODWORTH

I agree that Ruth Woodworth was born 27 Apr 1730 in Lebanon, CT but she could not have married (2) Joseph Owens in or about 1718 and had children between 1718 and 1726. Caleb FITCH was her first husband and I think she married (2) Jonathan House in 1751. I also think she was the daughter of Joshua Woodworth and Ruth Brown. Benjamin was her uncle not her father. In 1800 Ruth House was living in Coventry, CT and I think she died there in 1807. Record says Widow House age 80.

Sources for her birth/parents are :
1.Descendants of the Reverend James Fitch (1622-1702) V1 The First Five Generations by John T. Fitch with Patricia M. Geisler, Camden, Maine, Picton Press. FHL book # 929.273, F55fi.

2. Puritan in the Wilderness – A Biography of the Reverend James Fitch 1622-1702 by John T. Fitch, Picton Press: Camden, Maine, 1993

3. Woodworth Family of America by Jeanette Behan, FHL film #928369

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I replied:

Hi Rosie,

It looks like there were two Ruth Woodworths born in 1730 Connecticut, one who was born in Hartford to Benjamin Woodworth, Hannah Damon, the other born in New London to Joshua Woodworth and Ruth Brown.

It looks like it was the Hartford Ruth who married Joseph Owen (b. 29 Jan 1683/84 in Simsbury, Hartford, CT – d. 29 Sep 1758 in Simsbury, Hartford, CT)

Some sources say that Ruth died 19 Mar 1751 in Lebanon, New London, CT, but most state it was in Litchfield, Connecticut which is much closer to Hartford and Simsbury than it is to Lebanon, so it’s logical to assume this was the other Ruth.